by Paul Schrag
There seems to be no shortage of Roman coins in Kentucky. Once again the establishment chooses its best weapon—silence.
Take, for example, the case in 1963, when a construction engineer found a stockpile of coins while excavating the north bank of the Ohio River. The coins were huddled together in the remains of a disintegrated leather pouch. The discoverer secretly kept most of the coins, but he did give two away to his friend, also an engineer on the project. Thirty years later the engineer’s widow brought these two coins to the Falls of the Ohio Museum in Clarksville, Indiana. The museum curator, Troy McCormick, identified one of the coins as a bronze of Claudius II, from 268 CE. The other coin was examined by Mark Lehman, an expert in ancient coins and president of Ancient Coins for Education, Inc. He recognized it as a follis of Maximinus II, from around 300 CE. The Falls of the Ohio Museum had these coins on display for a number of years until it was informed by the state of Indiana that the exhibit conflicted with the state’s archaeological policy, claiming there is no documented evidence of pre-Columbian American contacts.
That we know of, Lewis and Clark didn’t find any Roman coins on their journey, but they definitely walked the path traveled by a rainbow of ancient peoples.
The Corps of Discovery returned to St. Louis on September 23, 1806, to a roaring celebration. The whole town welcomed Lewis and Clark with a monumental heroes’ reception. Lewis was back in good spirits and finally resumed writing, penning a long letter to Thomas Jefferson. In it he detailed an overview of their discoveries, adventures, and safe return home. When Jefferson received the letter a month later, he responded with joy and relief. After the expedition’s safe homecoming the corps disbanded.
Dubbed national heroes, the men of the expedition were paid well, and each was given 320 acres of land for his efforts. Some of the men got married and farmed, while others returned to the frontier to trade fur and dig gold. Sacagawea went east at Clark’s invitation and formally let her son be raised by Clark. She returned to her village and gave birth to a little girl. Shortly after, she died from an unknown illness. William Clark was given a high position in the government, with which he quickly grew bored. The only member of the expedition who was not rewarded fairly was William Clark’s slave, York. Despite his help and commitment to the expedition, William Clark denied York his freedom.
Today we can appreciate the far-reaching magnitude of Lewis and Clark’s journey to the West. But at the time, Jefferson’s goal to find a river route that linked with the Pacific had failed. His assumption that it would take Americans a hundred generations to settle the West was also wrong. Lewis and Clark opened the floodgates, and after the discovery of gold, the hordes were unleashed. The prairies turned in to farms, the buffalo were hunted to extinction, the Native Americans were killed, and the survivors were rounded up and placed on reservations. The white man’s diseases would eventually decimate the populations of the Mandan, Arikaras, and Hidatsa, the hospitable tribes whose friendliness and helpfulness were so crucial to Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery.
The explorers managed an extraordinary feat by surviving the six-thousand-mile excursion. The ramifications of this journey would prove to be monumental. The West they traveled would never be the same.
After resting and recuperating in St. Louis for several months, Lewis departed for Washington in the winter of 1807. Little did he know that the political atmosphere brewing in the heart of Washington would prove to be deadlier than any of the experiences he faced during the expedition.
Friends in High Places
Upon his arrival Lewis was greeted again with a hero’s welcome in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. He became the toast of the town and enjoyed his celebrity status. Returning to the familiarity of the White House, Lewis was also welcomed into the home of President Jefferson, where conversations about the expedition and Lewis’s personal thoughts and opinions on the discoveries were shared in great detail.
Jefferson, who had always nurtured a spirit of exploration, listened to Lewis’s informative accounts as if the president himself had participated in the historical venture. Lewis obtained extra money and land grants for his men, and he was appointed governor of the extensive Louisiana Territory. His experience as a military officer and the popularity he received after the expedition made him a natural for the position. As Lewis prepared his journals for publication he undoubtedly looked forward to his upcoming duties as governor, a job that would further develop his experience for what at the time seemed to point to his eventual calling: the presidency. Regardless of how excited Lewis might have been about his future possibilities, however, he would soon be discouraged by the political infighting brewing. He was thrown into a hornet’s nest that made the lands of the Louisiana Territory the original Wild West.
It’s important to recognize just how dangerous a time Lewis was living in. The American Revolution had taken place thirty years earlier, and the newly formed United States was still in a relatively vulnerable position, subjected to the direction and edicts of its founders.
In this specific regard the disagreements between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were at a fever pitch. They were famous, potent rivals. Jefferson was aware of Hamilton’s allegiance to a nefarious cult that the president believed was plotting a takeover of the young United States by creating a central bank that would control the country’s currency. Jefferson was suspicious of Hamilton’s association with the Rothschilds and feared betrayal.
It is no secret that most of the founders were in the frequent company of Freemasons. Although he never claimed to be one, Jefferson visited Masonic temples and had high-ranking Masonic friends such as Benjamin Franklin. Jefferson used this access to acquire the knowledge he felt was going to be used against the founders by usurpers who were gearing up for a war.
Both Lewis and Clark were Masons as well. In fact Lewis was known for achieving high rank among American Masons in almost record time. Lewis was elected to the Door of Virtue Lodge in January 1797 and had climbed the ranks to Past Master Mason within three months. By 1799 he had attained status of Royal Arch Mason in Widow’s Son Lodge at Milton, Virginia. Shortly thereafter Lewis had been chosen by Jefferson to be his private secretary.
In September of 1808, after being named governor of Louisiana Territory, Lewis helped establish the first Masonic lodge in St. Louis and was named Master of St. Louis Lodge, Number 111. During his time as governor Lewis was active in the lodge and shared duties with his most bitter rival, Frederick Bates, who was a close associate of famed traitor General James Wilkinson. When Lewis left St. Louis on his fateful, final journey, he handed over his Master’s role to Bates, who later signed William Clark’s Masonic diploma, presumably after Clark was encouraged to join the Masons by Lewis.
Today the so-called Illuminati have become darlings of pop culture. But it wasn’t long ago that the mere mention of the words Illuminati or New World Order was enough to squash a prominent career or, even worse, get a person killed. The danger was even worse in the days of Meriwether Lewis, when the Illuminati’s infiltration into the very heart of the country was establishing very strong roots.
George Washington, the first president of the United States, was personally indebted to the Rothschilds, who were instrumental in helping him obtain his position as a land surveyor. George Washington did not oppose the foreign influence of the Illuminati, but he wrote cautionary letters about them. One of these letters, dated October 24, 1798, says:
It was not my intention to doubt that the doctrines of the Illuminati and the principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more satisfied of this fact than I am. The idea I meant to convey, was, that I did not believe that the lodges of Freemasons in this country had, as societies, endeavored to propagate the diabolical tenets of the first, or pernicious principles of the latter. That individuals of them may have done it, or that the founder or instruments employed to have found the democratic societies in the United States
may have had this object, and actually had a separation of the people from their government in view, is too evident to be questioned.1
This secret battle continued at the universities as well. On July 4, 1812, Joseph Willard, then president of Harvard University, delivered a speech in Lancaster, New Hampshire, explaining:
There is sufficient evidence that a number of societies, of the Illuminati, have been established in this land of Gospel light and civil liberty, which were first organized from the grand society, in France. They are doubtless secretly striving to undermine all our ancient institutions, civil and sacred. These societies are closely leagued with those of the same Order, in Europe; they have all the same object in view. The enemies of all order are seeking our ruin. Should infidelity generally prevail, our independence would fall of course. Our republican government would be annihilated.2
Alexander Hamilton served as secretary of the Treasury under George Washington during 1789–1795 and learned a great deal about the banking system. This knowledge helped him form the Federalist Party, primarily made up of bankers who advocated a strong central government. Naturally the Anti-Federalists favored states’ rights and remained true to the original ideas fought for by the founders. Because Hamilton was a founder himself his perceived betrayal was an even greater offense. Jefferson was conscious of this and had anticipated an eventual showdown with Hamilton.
Before Jefferson was able to develop a strategy to handle Hamilton, the wheels of destruction began turning. The infamous House of Rothschild had its sights set on America. It is difficult to unravel historical facts about the Rothschilds from the volumes of paranoid, anti-Semitic agitprop that seems to have been recycled continuously since the 1800s.
Put simply, the Rothschild banking family has been the source of an extraordinary amount of absurd propaganda. For centuries proponents have promoted the idea that Jewish banking houses in Europe, and therefore the Jewish race, were responsible for manipulation of financial markets that led to widespread and terrible poverty. This theory has been used by politicians for centuries to woo populist voters and by modern authors to sell a lot of books to people who don’t know any better.
Established by a goldsmith named Amschel Bauer in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1743 this group of elite bankers had already managed to monopolize much of the wealth of Germany and England. They succeeded by creating what we know of today as “fractional reserve banking.” The House of Rothschild learned fast that loaning money to people was small change. The real cash was to be made by loaning money to governments, ensuring the money would always be covered by public taxes. Amschel was a pioneer in the art of dominating nations by gaining access to their banking institutions. You needn’t look any further than Amschel himself, who famously declared in 1790, “Let me issue and control a nation’s money and I care not who writes the laws.”3
In the 1700s Britain was a powerful nation sinking in massive amounts of debt. This was in part attributed to the Rothschilds takeover of local finance institutions and forming the Bank of England. The House of Rothschild also developed plans to extract money from the American colonies. The colonies were flourishing during this time. They controlled their own destiny by using colonial script as purchasing power. The colonies were not in debt to anybody or any entity and were free from the Bank of England. This oversight was not tolerated by the powers of the time, especially the English bankers. Through their privately owned Bank of England they wrote the Currency Act of 1764 and forced Parliament to pass it.
Although never cited in any traditional history books, the Currency Act truly sparked the Revolutionary War. The act made it illegal for the American colonies to print their own money. Even worse, it forced them to pay taxes to Britain in silver and gold. This brutal blow by the bankers ended the growing economic success the colonies were experiencing through independent trade and forced the eventual showdown over what became known as Taxation Without Representation.
For the first time the founders were forced to consider raising arms against the crown. In his autobiography Ben Franklin recalls the gloom in the air.
In one year, the conditions were so reversed that the era of prosperity ended, and a depression set in, to such an extent that the streets of the Colonies were filled with unemployed. The colonies would gladly have borne the little tax on tea and other matters had it not been that England took away from the colonies their money, which created unemployment and dissatisfaction. The inability of the colonists to get power to issue their own money permanently out of the hands of George III and the international bankers was the prime reason for the Revolutionary War.4
Britain wasn’t worried about fighting a war with America. The British government reasoned it would be an easy victory; however, what it wasn’t counting on was America’s use of guerrilla warfare tactics learned from the Native Americans. With a little help from the French navy the colonists shook up the world by defeating the British army— but not before George Washington was tricked into taking a loan from someone he trusted. While the war was on the verge of being lost, Washington borrowed from fellow founder Alexander Hamilton.
Hamilton was acting as a Rothschild agent, and this one shrewd move essentially won the war for the bankers. When the war was over the colonies were granted independence, but with Hamilton’s sly maneuvering the House of Rothschild already had its proverbial foot in the door. After the Revolutionary War there was a huge debt to be paid, and Hamilton wasted no time in setting up the First Bank of the United States in 1791, shortly after Benjamin Franklin’s death. This bank was privately owned and secretly belonged to the Rothschild consortium. Benjamin Franklin understood the dangers of a privately owned central bank controlling the issue of the nation’s currency.
Jefferson disagreed with Hamilton strongly about a national bank, believing it would acquire too much power over the government. He said at the time that he considered a private bank issuing public currency and the creation of perpetual national debt to be more of a threat to America than any army.
Hamilton thought the opposite, convinced banks would play a vital role in American’s future. He championed his position by declaring it was better to have American banks doing the lending than British banks. Of course he never mentioned that the same people who owned the banks of England had made the move to own the first American bank as well.
In addition to their quarrels over banking, Hamilton and Jefferson disagreed on the projected path of the American future. Jefferson believed that liberty and freedom were the greatest virtues a society could have and that the nation could be sustained by an agrarian society made up of independent farmers. Hamilton laughed at what he referred to as Jefferson’s “outdated” vision and was convinced that an agricultural economy would keep America poor. Hamilton and the powers he worked for were not interested in being peaceful farmers. They were intent on building nations into world powers, sustained by trade and manufacturing.
Jefferson faced a tremendous challenge in keeping America safe from Hamilton. Hamilton wanted to install an American king and even created the concept of “implied powers,” which was a clause used to cover any governmental action not enumerated in the Constitution. Through his own Federalist Party, Hamilton had infiltrated all branches of the government and gained a near monopoly of the judicial system. Dedicated to achieving a simple goal, Hamilton wanted to increase the federal government’s power over the states. This was never a popular idea, as the voters said “No” time and time again. Even though Hamilton suffered electoral defeat after defeat, he wasn’t discouraged and knew the original plans were being carried out clandestinely. As Jefferson paced the grounds of the White House, he knew he was surrounded on all sides by dark forces.
However successful Hamilton was in gaining access to and control over America’s newly formed government, it wouldn’t last long enough for him to enjoy it. Aaron Burr killed Hamilton in what may be the most famous duel in American history. With the death of Hamilton, Jefferson had one less enemy to w
orry about. But Hamilton’s death caused mass commotion and hysteria as Burr, Jefferson’s disgraced vice president, went on the lam.
Less well known as an agent for the British central banking advocates was Nicholas Biddle. Biddle was a brilliant lawyer, publisher, financier, and at the vanguard of American efforts to establish a central banking system. Biddle was every bit as responsible as Hamilton for founding the First Bank of the United States. When the First Bank’s charter expired, it was revived and led by Biddle until Andrew Jackson vetoed its charter, leading to its implosion in 1843. Jackson believed that the future of America was in jeopardy thanks to the influence of foreign banking interests such as the Rothschilds.
While all of this was going on, news began to circulate in the colonial streets that the seemingly crazed General James Wilkinson was gearing up for an invasion of Mexico. The triumphs of Lewis and Clark quickly faded from public consciousness as news of Wilkinson’s plans spread.
Growing up poor, Wilkinson had joined the American Revolutionary Army. Owing to his reckless bravado and cunning, he became a general by the age of twenty. He never seemed to care about the ideals he was supposed to be fighting for. He did, however, seem particularly interested in being paid. That attitude didn’t sit well with the other founders, but the general was tolerated because he was considered a great commander and a charismatic leader. None of the founders trusted him, but they kept him around out of loyalty. Wilkinson would eventually lead the Army longer than any general of his era, but his oversized ego and lofty ambitions outgrew his duties to America.
Wilkinson had become a land speculator and, through his newly acquired connections, acted as a spy and conspired with Spanish agents concerning the lands along the Mississippi. His treachery wasn’t fully realized until the Spanish-American War, when U.S. troops captured the Spanish archives in Cuba. In the archives they found astonishing information regarding Wilkinson’s role as an agent working for Spain.